Sarah
by AdmiralM
Summary: The Gang learns Giles' has a daughter and then, a few days later she turns up, with some nasty results for her...
1. Living History

Okay, disclaimer first: I don't owe them, I'm just borrowing them for a little while  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Rupert Giles was sitting on the couch with a box of photographs. One by one, he took them out and looked at them, smiling at the memories they brought back. He stood up and headed for the kitchen to get himself some tea. Today had been a calm day; the Magic Box was closed on Sundays so he had not needed to go there. The gang had been doing their own stuff, but they would come over tonight.   
  
That night, the entire gang was present and seated across the living. Willow, Tara and Dawn on one couch, Xander and Anya on the other with Buffy on the arm of the couch next to them and Giles was sitting on the corner of his desk. Everyone was talking to each other about daily stuff, when Buffy's eye caught sight of the box with photographs, now standing on a small table next to the couch. The lid was half open and she saw the pictures in them. She picked up a picture of an elder woman, standing in front of a white house with her arms full of flowers.  
  
"Giles," Buffy said, holding the picture up, "your mum?" He looked up to the picture and nodded.  
  
"Yes," he said. Buffy passed on the picture and took the box on her lap.   
  
"You mind?" she asked, looking up to Giles.   
  
"No, go ahead," he replied. Buffy put the box on the table and all came closer, picking pictures out of the box and asking Giles about them; most of the pictures where either himself, his parents and childhood home or friends of his.  
  
Suddenly, Willow pulled out a picture of a young woman. She had long, black, curly hair and was holding a baby in her arms while smiling at the camera.  
  
"Who's this?" asked Willow, while holding the picture up for Giles to see. He looked up but upon seeing the image, he turned pale.  
  
"Oh, dear lord," he said softly and started breathing deeper. The surprise was visible on all of the gang's faces. Giles swallowed and sat down, looking at the picture he now had in his hand. Everyone was silent; they didn't know what to say. Eventually, Anya broke the silence.  
  
"Who is she then?" she said, a little impatient, upon which everyone looked at her.   
  
"What?" she said. Xander opened his mouth but Giles smiled shortly.  
  
"It's okay," he said, softly, "She… eh was my… eh… wife."  
  
"Your wife!?" exclaimed Xander. Giles just nodded.   
  
"And… and the baby?" Dawn asked. Giles opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't and therefore just nodded.   
  
"You have a child!?" Buffy said, astonished, "Why didn't you tell us?"  
  
"It's… a long story," he replied, recovered from the shock of the photo.  
  
"I... eh... I married her," Giles began, "Emma is her name, in my early twenties. She knew I was a Watcher and, even though she wasn't too pleased with it, accepted it. About... two years after our marriage she got pregnant." Giles smiled at the memory.  
  
"We were very happy with it," he continued, "but in the end of the pregnancy, Emma got problems with her health and after the birth, it became clear that she could never have more children. Soon after Sarah's birth the Council visited us and informed us that Sarah would have to be a Watcher when she grew up." Giles looked around and smiled a little.  
  
"I... well, agreed, I mean, I had known I was to be a Watcher when I grew up and had lived a good live; but Emma was dead against it. We had a huge fight about it and I left to stay with a friend for the night, to let things cool down. But when I returned the next morning, both Emma and Sarah were gone. All that was left of them was a note, in which Emma told me that she had left and didn't want me to look for her or Sarah, because I wouldn't find them." He paused, overtaken by the memory. All were silent, processing what Giles had told and feeling sorry for him.  
  
"Of course, I didn't do as she had written, I searched for her. But after a month, I still had no trace and asked the Council for help," Giles said and smiled shortly, "they found her in a week, but told me that she had made clear that she didn't want any further contact. They told me to let it be. I protested and continued searching, but the Council would, purposely, hinder me in my search and finally… I gave up."  
  
"When was that?" Tara asked softly.  
  
"After a year or so, I don't know exactly, but I do know that when I finally gave up, the Council gave me a photograph of Sarah, taken when she was about nine, ten months old." He searched in the box and found the picture.   
  
"That's all I have from her."  
  
"How old is she now?" Buffy asked.  
  
"She is twenty now, like you," he answered and laughed shortly, "I haven't seen her since she was a month old, but I never stopped thinking about her."  
  
"And you have never known where they went?" Tara asked. Giles shook his head.  
  
"I suspect they are either still in Britain, or in Holland," he said.  
  
"Holland?" Buffy said. Giles nodded.  
  
"Emma's mother was Dutch, she has relatives there."  
  
Meanwhile, somewhere in the northern part of the Netherlands, a young woman, twenty years old, was standing in what seemed to be her room. She stared out of the window, looking upon a piece of land with horses in it. She had a slim posture and dark, curly hair.   
  
Two walls of the room were covered with books, modern ones, but also quite a lot of old ones, leather bound and with funny letters. On her desk lay a pile of those old books. One of them was open and showed a page full of writing in Latin. The girl sat down at her desk and turned her computer on. Then she started translating the text and put it in the computer.   
  
"Sarah!" a man's voice came from downstairs a little while later, "I'm going out for a while, I'll be back in an hour."  
  
"Okay!" replied the girl, and kept on typing. After five minutes, when she was sure the man was gone, she turned the computer off and grabbed a bag that was under her bed. She threw some clothes in it, a few books, some photographs, a bunch of CD-ROMs and floppy disks and a thick wallet. She swung the bag on her back and descended the stairs. She walked out the front door and headed for the bus stop.  
  
She sat down in the back of the bus and made herself comfortable, as far as that was possible on the bus seats. An hour later, she arrived at the train station and got out. She headed for the ticket sale and bought a train-ticket to the airport. It tuned out that her train wouldn't go for another hour so she bought a few magazines and went to wait in the restaurant.  
  
An hour later, she got on the train and made herself comfortable, and now for real, because the first-class seats were indeed comfortable. After a long trip, she finally arrived at the airport and she collected her bags and entered the main building.   
  
There she took the plane ticket out of her bag and headed for the check-in. It took an hour in total before she got on the plane and as soon as it took off; she relaxed, knowing she wouldn't be stopped anymore. 


	2. Surprise, Surprise

Back at Giles' place, everyone had now left and Giles was cleaning up. He put the empty cups and mugs in the kitchen and thought about the evening. The memories brought up by the photos were not all pleasant, but he was glad he had finally shared this with the gang. He had never talked about it in the five years he knew them and he was almost relieved that he had now. He returned to the living and put the box away after taking the pictures of Sarah and Emma out of it. He went to sit as his desk and studied the pictures for a long time, reminiscing about the two happy years with Emma and the month with the three of them.   
  
When he finally stood up to go to bed, he left the pictures lying on the desk, stroking the picture a last time.   
  
The next day, he got to the Magic Box early, as he had been awake for most of the night. Last night had brought back more feelings than he had realised then. The pain in his heart, always present, seemed even stronger now.  
  
Giles entered the shop and relocked the doors behind him, since it was only eight. He sat down in the back and started work on the sales register. Suddenly, somebody knocked at the door. Giles looked up and headed for the door.  
  
"Sorry, we're closed," he said through the glass as he saw it was a young girl.  
  
She looked at him and her eyes opened wider and she knocked some more on the door.  
  
"Open up," she said, "please."  
  
Surprised, Giles opened the door and as the girl stepped in, he got a clear view at her and his breath halted. It was like Emma was back, but she wasn't, this girl was too young… was it? Could it be?  
  
"Sarah?" he said.  
  
"Yeah," the girl replied, smiling shortly, "Can I…?" she motioned to the inside.  
  
"Eh… yes, come in…"  
  
"Thanks."  
  
As Sarah stepped inside, thoughts raced through Giles mind.   
  
Could it be? Such coincidence! Oh dear lord! Eh… sit, yes, sit.  
  
"You want to… eh… sit down?" Giles asked, indicating the back table.  
  
"Yes, thank you, I've been travelling since yesterday afternoon so…"  
  
He led her to it and as she put her bag down and sat, he looked at her. She was like a copy of Emma, the same hair, posture, face; even her voice looked like Emma's.  
  
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking worried at Giles.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine… it's just… you look so much like your mother."  
  
"I do?"  
  
"Yes, like a copy."  
  
"That saves some convincing," she softly said.  
  
"Oh, you have no idea how glad I am that you're here. I never stopped thinking of you, and your mother. For twenty years, I've never known were you were, how you were, if you were at all."  
  
"Oh dear," she said, in an imitation of Giles' classic sentence, "then you don't know."  
  
"Don't know what?"  
  
"Mom, she… she died."  
  
Giles face, already pale, turned even paler.  
  
"D-died?" Sarah nodded.  
  
"When I was thirteen."  
  
"Would you like something to drink?" Giles said, escaping the thought that Emma was dead and suddenly remembering his manners.  
  
"Tea, please." She smiled at his pleasantly surprised look.  
  
"I'm still very much British."  
  
"Still?"  
  
"Yeah, I've been living in Holland for the last two years."  
  
"With family?"  
  
"No, with David," she replied, "I'll give you the complete story, that'll make things easier to understand."  
  
"Yes, indeed."  
  
When Giles returned with two cups of tea, she sipped it and breathed deeply, bracing herself.  
  
"Off course I don't remember a lot of my early childhood, so what I'll tell you is puzzled together from my own experience, mom's diaries, which I found not so long ago and Council documentation.  
  
When you two had fought and you had left to sleep somewhere else for the night, mom was approached, the next morning, by Quinten Travers, all too familiar I think."  
  
Giles nodded.  
  
"He told mom you had been killed by a strong enemy. Mom never specified what he had meant with that, but he convinced her that she and I were next on the list and that the council would protect us. She wrote that it all went very fast because; according to Quinten, the enemy was coming. So, an hour later she and I were at the Council's headquarters. Causing you to find the house empty."  
  
"But…"  
  
"Hold on, let me finish first, please."  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"The council relocated us to a small place in the country side and David went to live with us. David Adams is a council member; and he was assigned to protect us. When I was old enough to go to school for the first time, we relocated again. There I finished primary school and it was also in this period that mom married David.   
  
"Married!?"  
  
"Yes. I was nine when they married and by now she had sort of gotten over you I guess and she liked David. She wrote she didn't love him, she liked him as a close friend, possibly a brother. But it would make things easier. The council supported it very much and were also the first to bring it up. Anyway, three years later we relocated again. By then I was twelve and asking questions about my father; you; and I learned some stuff about you. They told me you were a Watcher and had been killed by the enemy. They never specified to me who the enemy was, all they said was that I was too young. A year later, when mom died; they told me she had been killed by the enemy too and they relocated me again. There I finished secondary school.   
  
When I was fifteen or so, I started researching about you and mom. It was difficult and often I didn't find anything.   
  
At eighteen, I choose to go to university and very specifically in Holland. I had learned mom came from Holland and I wanted to get to know the country. I started studying Sumerian languages to better understand the ancient texts I was working with. I had been assisting the council in research since I was fifteen. They assigned me to stop my flow of questions.   
  
Once I was in Holland, I kept on searching but I didn't get a breakthrough on you two until a few months ago. I then discovered mom wasn't killed by 'the enemy' but had been in a car crash. I also found out that you weren't dead at all. And finally, I found they wanted me because I my father and grandmother had been watchers and third-generation watchers are not only rare but also they seem too possess some kind of sixth sense for the supernatural or something.   
  
After that, I'd had it. All I wanted was get away from the council and find you. I discovered you were the Watcher of the Slayer and lived in Sunnydale and had a shop. So, I figured I'd go to Sunnydale and see my dad. Mom had left me a bit of money and I bought a plane ticket and all I had to do was wait for David to leave me alone.   
  
David had moved too, he had been taking care of me since mom died, and in Holland he hardly let me out of sight. But finally, he left to do something, which would take about an hour, giving me time to get away. Then: bus, train, plane; and here I am."  
  
"I'm quite speechless," Giles said, "I really don't know what to say…" Then he suddenly jumped up.  
  
"The shop! I have to open it, it's nine."  
  
"Need a hand?" Sarah asked, "I could… you know… Then we could… spend some more time…"  
  
"Yes, that would be nice…" Giles said.  
  
Sarah got up and looked around.  
  
"Impressive collection you have." She turned around and walked to the back end.  
  
"And not only innocent ones…"  
  
Giles smiled and checked the money in the cash-register.   
  
"Those are for research only," he said. At that moment, the door opened and Anya entered.  
  
"Hello!" she called out.  
  
Giles stood up from behind the counter at the same time as Sarah emerged from behind a bookcase.  
  
"Anya, good to see you." Anya stared at Sarah.  
  
"Eh… hi," Sarah said.   
  
"Hello," Anya said, "Those books are not for sale."  
  
"This is not a customer Anya," Giles said, "Sarah, this is Anya, Anya this is Sarah, my… daughter."  
  
"The one you told about?" Anya asked, seeming not too surprised.  
  
"Yes," Giles said, and suddenly became enthusiastic, "We have to call a meeting, I want to tell everyone, I have to tell everyone." Giles smiled at Sarah who stepped nearer. When she stood next to him, he carefully extended his arm and at her smile he pulled her close to him. Father and daughter shared a hug after nearly twenty years of being apart. 


	3. Even More Surprises

That afternoon Buffy and Dawn were the first to enter the shop. Sarah was sitting at the back table with Giles while Anya stood behind the counter. There were no customers and the only sound heard was the soft talking of Giles and Sarah. As the slayer and her sister entered, the bell rang and all turned around to look.   
  
"Buffy," Giles said, in this way making clear for Sarah who she was.  
  
"Hi," Buffy answered as she and Dawn walked to the back. She looked curiously at Sarah and was about to ask as the door opened again and Willow, Tara and Xander walked in.   
  
As they all gathered in the back, everyone was staring at Sarah, but no-one said anything. Sarah was studying each one of them, in her mind trying to find out who was who from the Council notes she had collected.  
  
'Buffy the slayer, blonde and small, is her; the girl earlier is Anya, former vengeance demon involved with Xander, which has to be him. Willow and Tara, powerful witches, the redhead is Willow I believe so I guess the other blonde is Tara. The young girl must be the Key, eh… Dawn, yes, Dawn.'  
  
When everyone was seated, Giles, who stood before them, called for attention.  
  
"Guys, uhm… I'd like your attention please, there's someone you have to meet." He indicated Sarah and continued: "This is Sarah; she's… she's… my daughter…"  
  
Everyone started talking through each other and when al was calm again, Giles and Sarah explained the situation.  
  
"… So, I came here to get to know my father. And I figured I could also lend a hand in some way." Sarah finished the story.   
  
All were silence for a moment to let everything sink in. Then they started talking about it all and end of the line was that Sarah was going to live with Giles and would help with the gang and the Magic Box.   
  
This seemed to work fine; Sarah was pleasant to work with and soon proved useful in research and also fighting. One night she had offered Buffy to accompany her on patrol and so the two young women, both slim, one blond and rather small, the other dark haired and taller went on their way. As they entered the cemetery they had picked to check, there was a rumble in the bushes. Both turned around and listened carefully  
  
"I'll go around the back," whispered Sarah. She sneaked around the bush and peeked in. She saw a vampire sitting there, grinning in such a way that his pointy teeth were clearly visible. Sarah smiled, jumped up and kicked the vamp in the back, causing him to fall, face forward, in the mud in front of Buffy.   
  
"You messed up my shoes," Buffy said to the vamp, who started to jump up and dusted him.  
  
A month after Sarah's arrival, the entire gang had been out to the Bronze and were on their way back home. Xander and Anya were walking at the back, arm-in-arm, with Willow and Tara, hand-in-hand, before them. Buffy and Sarah were talking to each other and were walking to the side. Suddenly a group of vamps jumped out. There were at least six of them, surrounding the group completely. Right away Buffy and Sarah grabbed the stakes they held in their coats. They formed a circle within the surrounding group and when the vampires attacked, they defended themselves well. Most of the Scoobies were able to grab some kind of weapon from around them; except Anya.   
  
How exactly it happened was unclear, but suddenly she was cornered with two vampires closing in. Sarah turned around, saw it and was about to run to it when a third vampire kicked her legs out underneath her. As she fell and saw the vamp getting ready to drop on her she got so terribly angry she started to glow, literally. A blast of energy hit the vamp in the chest, incinerating him on the spot as Sarah turned around and instinctively threw her hands in the direction of the two vampires cornering Anya. Two tendrils of sparkling energy surged out of them, hitting the vamps full in the back, dusting them on the spot.   
  
The other three, the moment they came to their senses, ran. Buffy threw a piece of wood at them, hitting one of them in the back, piercing through him and turning the guy to dust as the other two ran on and turned a corner, out of sight.  
  
"What the hell was that?" said Willow, "you never mentioned you were a witch!"  
  
"I'm not!" Sarah said, looking at her hands with slight terror, "I had no idea I could do that!"  
  
Xander helped Anya up while Buffy pulled Sarah up, who held her hands away from herself, eyeing them suspiciously.   
  
They continued their way to get to Giles' place, which was closest by.   
  
As Sarah pulled her key out of her pocket an opened the door, she was extra careful, she didn't want more blasts from her hands, or any body part for that matter.  
  
When they entered, Giles was still awake, reading some old text. When he looked up he immediately saw their faces and knew something had happened. Sarah sat down on the couch and the others gathered around her as Giles, realising they could probably use a drink, made some tea.   
  
When he came back with the tea, Sarah had relaxed a bit and the gang told him what had happened. Giles' face grew more worried with every word and as they finished the story, he took Sarah's hands and studied them.   
  
"Your mother experienced this phenomenon too. Twice," he said.   
  
Sarah's mouth fell open.  
  
"Mom?"   
  
Giles nodded  
  
The first time she was terrified, she had no history of magic in the family and only knew it because I sometimes spoke of it. Afterwards nothing happened for about a year and we thought it was a one-time-only thing. But then it happened again. And again, afterwards nothing happened anymore. I don't know if it happened after that, she was gone by then. But I eventually came out on a mental cause."  
  
"Mental?" Xander asked.  
  
"Yes, I think with Emma it was some sort of telekinesis that didn't show in normal life, only in certain extraordinary conditions. She showed this power, both times, at an occasion when we were mugged. I think it's the same for you, and if you want to make use of it in normal everyday life, you'll have to train it."  
  
Sarah agreed and the next day she started working on it and two months later she had become pretty good. Giles had tested her and it had appeared that her newfound power was not completely a mental thing but also magical. She was susceptible to magic and had picked it up at some point in her life. But the power wasn't that big as Willow's or Tara's, she could lift small objects like pens and glasses and perform small spells, but that was it. The energy tendrils hadn't returned and Giles had theorized that that burst had been the release of years of unused magic, all coming out at once. He figured that if she didn't use her magic for a few months, she could have another burst. Sarah, not really wanting to repeat that sensation, therefore used her magic daily; even if she only lifted a pencil a few times.  
  
She could never guess it would one day help in saving her life, again. 


	4. A Turn For The Badder

One day, by now it was early spring, Sarah, Buffy and Willow were patrolling while the others were at the Magic Box, researching why a demon, known for wanting to be in a wet and swampy climate, had shown up here. It wasn't an emergency or something, Buffy had killed the demon the day before, but Giles wanted to know and had recruited part of the gang.  
  
So while Xander, Anya and Tara were researching, accompanied by Dawn, the other three went out hunting.  
  
A thing they better should have done another night…  
  
They were walking through a particular nasty street in downtown Sunnydale, Willow at the back, Buffy in the middle and Sarah ahead of them. Suddenly, vampires appeared from everywhere. There were at least a dozen of them, and they were positioned in such a way that each one of the girls was separated. Six of them attacked Buffy and four of them headed for Willow.   
  
Buffy with Slayer strength and all was on her way to help Willow while trying to dust the ones attacking her. With a lot of trouble she reached Willow, dusting two of the six that were attacking her. Now Buffy and Willow were together, the two groups of vamps combined and the eight of them attacked the two girls. Buffy and Willow fought while trying to get to Sarah.  
  
But there was something strange about the whole thing. The vampires didn't seem to go full force and all they were really doing was blocking the way to Sarah, keeping the Slayer and her Witchy friend busy. As soon as Buffy realised this, she jumped up on a pile of crates and looked for Sarah.  
  
At first, she didn't see her, but then she heard a muffled scream and saw a piece of Sarah's red coat in between a group of at least nine or ten vampires. Buffy became furious; it was a trap! She turned around and with new fury she dusted three vamps in two strikes. Willow, now also seeing Sarah was in trouble stepped into a corner and called up some magic, creating a tunnel to Sarah.   
  
At that moment, Spike jumped down and kicked a vampire out of the way, saying: "Need a hand?"  
  
Buffy didn't respond and ran for Sarah with Willow right behind her. As the Slayer and the Witch approached the group, they fled, but not before one turned around and laughed at them.  
  
"Too late, Slayer," he said and ran.  
  
Buffy and Willow reached Sarah and saw to their horror that she was almost unconscious, her hand pressed against her neck and blood on her clothing and face. The worst had happened; they had bitten her.  
  
Spike came near and pushed Buffy aside, then he picked Sarah up.   
  
"Where to?" he simply asked.  
  
"Magic Box," Willow said, it's closest and the others are all there. Spike nodded and started to run, as fast as he could with a body in his arms, to the Magic Box.   
  
When they arrived there and burst through the door, the others looked up in surprise.   
  
"Sarah!" exclaimed Giles, immediately recognising his daughter.   
  
"She's been bitten," said Spike, walking towards the back end where the others were.  
  
"Put her here," Anya said, indicating the backroom.  
  
Spike walked in the other room and laid Sarah down on the pillowed camp bed in the corner.  
  
"It's was the same…" Sarah uttered, barely able to speak, "one of the group some time ago. The group I dusted three of… when my magic emerged."  
  
Sarah was leaning against the pillows, panting. Her hand covered the wound in he neck as the blood dript between her fingers.   
  
"They turned her," Spike said, looking at the wound and the blood around and in her mouth.  
  
"Help me," she managed to say, "my body is fighting it… the magic… but I don't know... how long…" Giles turned and ushered the others backwards out of the room.   
  
"We'll find something," Willow said before Giles looked at Sarah once more and closed the door.   
  
"What do we do?" asked Tara, once they were out.  
  
"Her magic is not so powerful, although she hasn't been using it very much lately, she might have some reserves," Giles said and thought, "she could hold on a while, but..."  
  
"How long is a while," asked Buffy.  
  
Giles shrugged: "A few hours, maybe till morning, then she'll... die."  
  
"And resurrect," added Spike. Giles closed his eyes and allowed himself to feel the pain. Then he breathed in and opened his eyes with determination in it.  
  
"We have two options," he began, "there are two rituals we can perform, both involving an Orb of Thesulah. The first will help the magic in her body defeat the vampire."  
  
"Then she'll be cured?" Dawn asked.  
  
"Not… Not as such, there's still a big chance she'll die, but she won't turn. The second option is to restore her soul once she has turned."  
  
"Like Angel," Buffy said. Giles nodded and then turned to Anya.  
  
"Anya, I believe we have an Orb in the basement..."  
  
"On it," she said and headed for the basement.   
  
Giles walked to the shelves with books and ran his finger along them.  
  
"We need.... this book," he said as his finger stopped at a particular one. He took it out and opened it on the table, searching the right page.   
  
"Here it is," he said, pointing to a picture of the Orb and a list of materials needed. He did the best he could to keep himself from falling apart and succeeded pretty well.  
  
"Willow, Tara, if you could..."  
  
"Of course," Tara replied before he could finish his sentence. At that moment, Anya came back.  
  
"I think we have a little problem," she said, holding out a little box.  
  
They turned and saw, inside the box, the Orb was shattered.  
  
"It was on the ground like this, I think it fell of the shelf."  
  
"Oh, dear lord," Giles uttered, he breathed heavily, trying to keep it all together. He stood for a few seconds and then turned to the counter where he searched in a drawer. He turned out a piece of paper and handed it to Willow, who stood nearby.   
  
"This is a list of other magic suppliers in the area; you and Tara go and make a round to see if one of them has an Orb."  
  
"Right away," Willow said and she and Tara left.   
  
"Anya, you and Dawn get the other materials from the list. Xander, close the door, we don't want to be disturbed. Buffy, Spike, come with me please."  
  
As the other three went to do what they were told, Giles headed for the backroom with Buffy and Spike following him.   
  
Sarah smiled lightly when they came in, her forehead glistering with sweat.  
  
"Still here," she said, "but not for long." Giles went to sit next to her as Buffy and Spike kept a distance.   
  
"So glad... that I found you... in time," Sarah said and reached for Giles' hand. He grabbed it and held onto her.   
  
He smiled at her and said: "I'll do everything I can."  
  
"I know... but just in case... I love you... dad." Giles swallowed and pinched her hand.  
  
"I love you too, and I've never been happier then when you turned up."  
  
Then Anya, Dawn and Xander entered and started preparing the ritual with the other materials.  
  
During the next hour, Sarah weakened visibly, and Giles never left her side. Buffy was sitting on the other side, either cooling her forehead or holding her hand.   
  
"Dad..." Sarah said, so soft it could hardly be heard.  
  
"Yes, dear," Giles said as Buffy stood up and motioned to the door.  
  
"I'll just... eh..." Sarah turned to her and smiled.  
  
"Thank you Buffy," she said upon which Buffy smiled back and stood back. Then Sarah turned back to Giles.  
  
"It won't be long now," she continued, her voice barely a whisper.   
  
And indeed, while she kept looking at Giles, she dozed off and her breath was barely noticeable.  
  
"What's keeping Willow and Tara?" Buffy said softly.   
  
"I'll go check where they are," Spike, who had been standing in a corner, said and left.  
  
Suddenly Sarah breathed deeply and all attention switched to her.   
  
"Sarah, I'm here," Giles said, pinching her hand. She slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to her friends. She smiled at them and her eyes started to glister.  
  
"Be sure... to stake me... if you have to." She turned her head to her father and, with the same glister she said: "Love you..." Then slowly her eyes closed and her breathing became shallow and shallower and slowly, she faded from life. 


	5. Vamps & Souls

Half an hour later, Spike came in again, followed by Willow and Tara.   
  
"Are we...?" Tara asked, but she knew the answer by the looks on their faces.  
  
"I'm so sorry," Willow said as she put the Orb down on the table.  
  
"It's not your fault, we will..." Giles sighed very deep as a tear slipped from his eye. He swallowed before he continued: "We will perform the… the second ritual. Spike… any thoughts on when she will… resurrect?"  
  
"I'd guess around midnight; it's a full moon, no better time for a vamp to come to."  
  
"Of course. We'll need to take precautions; vampires who rise during a full moon are stronger." Giles' face tightened as he referred to Sarah as 'vampire'.  
  
"Then we have about three hours left." Xander, being practical, said. Buffy nodded and thought aloud.  
  
"If she'll be stronger because of the full moon, we'll... well, we'll have to... tie her up," she said.  
  
"Yes," Giles answered, swallowing down a lump in his throat. Buffy pulled Spike's shirt.  
  
"Come," she softly said, seeing that even Spike was troubled by all this. They took some shackles from the weapon chest and carefully put these around Sarah's ankles and wrists. Then they connected the shackles to the wall.   
  
"It's not enough," Spike said, eyeing Sarah. He took some other shackles and tied those around her middle onto the camp bed.  
  
"Is that really necessary!?" Buffy said, a little disgusted.  
  
"Yes," was all Spike said.  
  
Later, all was set for the ritual. All they had to do now was call up her soul and wait for Sarah to resurrect. By now it was nine thirty, two-and-a-half hours to go. Giles, who would perform the ritual, aided by Willow and Tara, sat next to the camp bed on which Sarah lay. The others hung around the backroom and the back end of the shop.   
  
Giles, Willow and Tara then called up Sarah's soul and trapped it in the Orb. The whole procedure didn't take more than ten minutes.  
  
The remaining two hours crept by at a snail's pace but finally the clock hit twelve. By now all were gathered in the back-room. Giles, Willow and Tara sat in the circle, everything ready to start the moment Sarah would come to. Spike and Buffy stood next to Sarah to keep her in check and to keep her down if the shackles wouldn't be strong enough. Xander, Dawn and Anya stood between Sarah and the ritual space to make sure they wouldn't be disturbed.   
  
After a few more minutes, just when light of the full moon hit the bed through the window, Sarah began to stir and suddenly she opened her eyes. She gnarled at Buffy and her face turned.   
  
"Now!" Buffy shouted as Spike's face also turned.  
  
"Why am I shackled?" she called to Spike, her vampire mind recognising him as the same species.  
  
"For your safety, doll," he said, closing in.  
  
In the background, Giles held hands with the two witches and started chanting the spell. After a few lines, the spirit came over him; he stiffened and started speaking in some ancient language. His eyes were pitch black and looked at nothing.   
  
Meanwhile, Sarah was pulling her shackles on the bed and had almost loosened one from the wall. Spike sat on the side of the bed and pushed her back as Buffy tried to push the shackle back into the wall.   
  
Just as it slipped out of her hand and out of the wall, Sarah pushed Spike back and shoved her fist in his stomach, making him fall backwards. She ripped her other arm loose and punched Buffy so that she fell into Anya and Dawn who almost fell into Willow; what would have disturbed the ritual. Luckily, Xander pushed them out of the way just in time.   
  
Then, at the same moment Sarah had loosened the shackles from her middle and legs, Giles finished the ritual. Sarah stood up, on her way to attack the others when it hit her. She fell to the ground in agony and screamed. She grasped her head in her hands and rolled over on her side, moaning softly. After a few minutes she stopped and slowly came to.   
  
As she looked around, she saw Giles, Buffy and Willow around her, worried. She was still confused and slowly tried to get up. Quickly they helped her get unto the bed, where the shackles had been removed.   
  
After a little while she seemed to realize what had happened and inhaled sharply.  
  
"I am... a... a vampire?" she uttered. Giles nodded.  
  
"With a soul," said Buffy, "like Angel."  
  
"I am so happy that you live," Giles said, seeing in her eyes she hated the idea of being a vampire.   
  
Sarah and Giles were left alone to recover from the shocking events of the night as the others gathered in the back-end of the shop. Buffy and Spike decided to wait for Giles and Sarah, as the others made preparations to go home. Willow and Tara would take Dawn home and so all five others left the Magic Box.  
  
Meanwhile in the backroom, Giles and Sarah were talking.   
  
"Don't get me wrong," Sarah said, her eyes still red from crying, "I'm glad I live, as far as I can speak of living, but I don't know if I want to be a vampire."  
  
"How so?" asked Giles, "you haven't done anything bad, we returned your soul before you had the chance."  
  
"It's just the idea of being the creature I disgust. I've spent a great deal of my time studying vampires and since I'm here I have hunted them, and now I am one of them." She sighed heavily and sniffed, rubbing at her eyes with one hand.  
  
"I shall never feel sunlight again, I… I'll have to drink blood," she said, with clear disgust in her voice, "and, most importantly, I will, if I'm careful, outlive you all and will be forced to see all my friends die while I don't age and don't die."  
  
"I know that is hard on you," Giles said, "but you will learn to live with that. The same as you will learn to live without sunlight and with blood. But most importantly, I will still love you, even though you are a vampire, I do not care. Ever since I lost you, I yearned to get you back, and now that I have you back, I prefer to have a daughter who happens to be a souled vampire than no daughter at all."   
  
Giles became emotional too. Sarah smiled, a short smile that didn't really reach her eyes, and they hugged each other tightly.  
  
"I guess I will get used to it, eventually," she continued, on a more serious tone, "But it will take time."  
  
And time it took. When Giles and Sarah were back home, she seemed fine for a day or two but then she broke. She locked herself in her room and refused to come out. She had blinded her windows and didn't answer when talked to. This went on for two days and then Giles called for the gang to help but she didn't answer to them either. After another two days of silence, they didn't know anymore what to do.  
  
"I don't know what to do anymore," Giles said. He sat on the couch, his head in his hands.  
  
"I could magic the door open," Willow said, "maybe she's hurt in some way."  
  
"What about Angel," Buffy offered.  
  
"Angel?" Xander asked.  
  
"Yes, he's a souled vampire too, maybe he can help her."  
  
"We can try," Giles said, lifting his head and regaining his strength. He stood up and headed for the phone. He dialled Angel Investigations and talked to the souled vampire for a while. When he put the phone down, he nodded.  
  
"He'll be here in the evening." 


	6. Difficulties & Development

That evening, all the gang was present as someone knocked on the door.   
  
"That must be Angel," Buffy said, a bit strained  
  
Giles went to open and it was indeed Angel.  
  
"Angel, come on in," Giles said and stepped aside to let him in.  
  
He then closed the door and they went to sit down after which Giles explained matters in more detail.  
  
"... and she hasn't left her room in four days. She doesn't respond to anything or anyone. "  
  
"We thought you might be able to get through to her," Willow added, "since you have a soul too and... well... "  
  
Angel nodded: "I'll see what I can do."  
  
A little while later, Giles led Angel up the stairs to Sarah's room.  
  
"Here it is, she won't open, or answer for that matter."  
  
Angel nodded and tried the door, locked.   
  
"Sarah," Giles said, "Angel's here, will you talk to him?"  
  
No response.  
  
"Sarah," Angel tried, "will you open up please, I just wanna talk."  
  
No response.  
  
They tried for ten minutes then Angel got tired of it.  
  
"Do you mind buying a new door?" he asked Giles.  
  
"Eh... I guess not," Giles said, getting what Angel was aiming for.  
  
"Then go downstairs and let me do my business. You'll hear it if I succeed or not."   
  
Giles reluctantly agreed and went down. The moment he sat down on the couch downstairs he and the gang heard a terrible crash.  
  
"What's that?" Dawn asked, jumping up.  
  
"The door," Giles said, "Angels taking the forceful way in."  
  
Upstairs, Angel tore loose parts of wood away and forced himself through. Inside the darkened room, he saw Sarah sitting on the bed, not even responding. In one step he was with her and sat down. Carefully he touched her and that did the trick. Her head flew up and she looked at him.   
  
"Angel!" she said.   
  
"Your father asked me to come," Angel said, purposely using the term 'father' for Giles, "He's worried. As are the others."   
  
Sarah nodded.   
  
"I know," she said softly, "I just need to deal. I tried to go on like nothing happened, but I couldn't handle that anymore, I broke. So I closed myself to deal with this."  
  
"Is it working?"   
  
She shook her head.  
  
"I hate who I am now."  
  
Downstairs, time went very slowly. They hadn't heard anything after the crashing of the door and were now just waiting. Giles paced back and forth through the living room as the others were sitting still and silent.  
  
After what seemed ages, but was in reality about an hour, Angel came down, followed by Sarah.  
  
"Sarah!" Giles exclaimed and almost ran to her. He pulled her in his arms and they hugged.  
  
"I'm sorry I got you so worried, I couldn't pull it anymore," she said.  
  
"It's okay," Xander said, "I mean, you don't become a vampire everyday."  
  
Sarah smiled.  
  
"Exactly," she said, "Angel's been a big help."  
  
That same night, Angel left again for LA and the others all went home too. Sarah and her father remained downstairs for a while and talked.  
  
"You won't fall down again?" Giles asked.  
  
"No," Sarah said, shaking her head, "Angel pulled me through. Without him, I would've stayed in that room for a very long time."  
  
Giles slowly nodded.  
  
"I have accepted my fate now, but it will take a while before I'm fully accustomed to it."  
  
"Of course," Giles replied, "But I'm curious, what did Angel say?"  
  
"We talked about a lot of stuff, but I'd rather keep it to myself. Let's just say that he saved my life tonight. If he hadn't been there, I don't know what I would've done, now or in a few days."  
  
She smiled.  
  
"I'm cool now; it's okay, kinda…"  
  
For the next few days, Sarah remained in the house and tested her new abilities, the extra strength, the better senses… it was a revelation to her how much there was to hear and smell she had never heard or smelled before. Even her eyesight had improved and the lenses she used to wear were no longer needed. The bad things were also sinking in, she had almost burst into flames when she stood at the window too long and her taste had gone haywire. She could eat about anything now, it just tasted only half as good as it had done before.  
  
It was the fifth day after her 'recovery' when she discovered that, even though she was dead, her telekinesis was still working.  
  
She was sitting at the table with a cup of tea (or so she thought), even though she could hardly taste it, studying an ancient book in some long-dead language. As she was about to take the cup, she realized she had left it on the counter. Annoyed she looked up at the cup and made an impatient gesture and snarled to herself. Almost instantaneously, the cup flew to her, leaving a trail of spilled tea on the counter, floor and table.  
  
"What the f*ck!?" she said, staring at the cup and her hand. 'Oh, you stupid' she said to herself, 'you haven't used the magic in days, its stronger. …… But it shouldn't be this strong, right? … It shouldn't be at all, I'm dead…!'  
  
She spent the rest of the afternoon browsing her father's home library about vampires with powers but it turned up nothing. Waiting for Giles to come home she first researched and then decided to test her powers to see if they were nothing more than unreleased energy or if it was indeed an increase in power.   
  
She put the tea cup, empty, on the counter and sat at the table again. She looked at it and lifted her hand, willing the cup to her. Again it flew to her in an instant. Then she tried it from the couch and the first step of the stairs. No difference. It flew to her without hesitation and with more strength and speed than she had ever shown.   
  
Then she decided to move on to the bigger stuff. She tried a heave leather- and leadbound book, then a chair… Finally, Sarah looked around the room and then her eye caught sight of a cubic side table. She raised her hand a little and willed it to move; slowly it shoved over the floor. Without realising it, her hand dropped and she started focusing on the table through her eyes. Slowly it rose above the floor.   
  
Then suddenly the door bell rang and Sarah's concentration broke, causing the table to drop again. She turned and went to open the door when her eye caught sight of the lock and it opened out of its own. As Giles stepped in, Sarah's mouth fell open at this last sudden exposure of telekinesis.  
  
As Giles stepped in, turned and closed the door behind he began to say: "I forgot my keys at the Magic Box and…" Then he seemed to realise something and turned again.  
  
"How did this door open?" he asked.  
  
"Hi dad," Sarah said and smiled shortly, "I opened it for you, I think."  
  
"You think?"   
  
She nodded.  
  
"I think, that somehow, my transformation, eh… enhanced my abilities."   
  
"Yes off course," Giles said, not quite getting what she meant, " enhanced senses, strength…"  
  
Sarah shook her head.  
  
"Not that. My… mental abilities. I opened that door with telekinesis. As I, just before you rang, lifted that side table."  
  
"But… That has always been out of your range."  
  
Sarah nodded again and turned to indicate the books on the table.  
  
"Apparently not so any longer. I've been trying to find info about vamps with powers all afternoon, but turned up nothing."  
  
As both of them went over to the couch and sat down, Sarah told what had happened that afternoon. When she was finished, they decided they would go over to the Magic Box the next day to do more research and testing.  
  
"I'll call Willow and Tara to come over too, they might have some insights into this," Sarah said as she picked up the phone and rang her friends. 


	7. Training

The next day, Giles, Sarah, Willow, Anya and Buffy gathered at the Magic Box, Xander had to work, Tara had classes and Dawn had to go to school. Sarah told her friends just what had happened the day before, from the accidental moving of the teacup, via the side table, to the opening of the door from the other side of the room.   
  
"I worked at it again this morning and it's still there," Sarah said, turning on her chair a bit so she was now looking towards an empty stool in front of the bookcases in the back, "look." She focused on the stool and without hesitation it moved, floated above the floor and came towards the group. It stopped before Giles who was sitting on the side of the table and wiggled before him in the air before it landed on the floor.  
  
"Take a seat, dad," Sarah said.  
  
"That's way impressive!" Willow said, "You've improved heaps!"  
  
Sarah nodded  
  
"And I like it, but I question the origin of it, this is too much an improvement to be just a left over from not using my power for days. And I find it hard to believe that turning into a vampire improved my power. I mean, I couldn't find anything about it in the books and if it were a normal thing, it should be in there, right?"  
  
"I've never heard of it either," Giles added, "as far as I know, it's unprecedented."  
  
"Well, let's just do some research," Buffy said, nodding to the pile of books on the table, "There's a shipload of books waiting…" She sighed.  
  
All five grabbed a book and started researching and so the rest of the morning was spent. Around noon, they were halfway through the pile of books when Willow and Sarah decided to go get some food. Just as they were about to leave, Tara entered the shop.  
  
"Tara!" Willow exclaimed and headed for her girlfriend.  
  
"Hey," Tara said and they kissed.  
  
"Sarah and I were just going to get some food," Willow said, "you want too?"  
  
Tara nodded and indicated the back.  
  
"I'll wait with the others," she said and headed to the other three.  
  
"Come on Willow," Sarah said, standing in the doorway, "let's go, I'm starving."  
  
Sarah quickly put the dark veil, normally worn by strict muslims and such, over her head and folded her sleeves down over her hands. The two then quickly left and headed for the Chinese take-out a few blocks away.  
  
"So," Sarah began, "what do you think?" Willow looked at her and frowned. Then she realised.  
  
"Your improvement… I don't know what to think. I think it's great for you that your power has strengthened but I have no idea about how it's possible. I mean, it shouldn't be. Because, you know… with you being dead and all… " She looked sideways at Sarah with an apologetic smile.  
  
Sarah smiled, "It's okay, Wills. I've accepted me being dead."  
  
"Yeah, well if anything were to happen to your power it should decrease because of the loss of the lifeforce."  
  
"That's what I thought," Sarah said while nodding a little, "But couldn't it be that my power is a sort of sense, since my eyesight and hearing, which are senses, improved, and… well… you know…?"  
  
Willow nodded, "Yeah, I get it. And it could be; but I'm not an expert on vamps."  
  
"But you are on witchcraft and other stuff linked to that."  
  
"Thanks," Willow said, smiling, "but I still don't know."  
  
"I find it extra weird because when the vampire-you came from that other universe… Dad told me," Sarah said on Willow's look and continued, "she had no telekinesis or other power you had, right?" Willow nodded.  
  
"Right; but… maybe it has something to do with the soul…" Willow said, thinking.  
  
"Yeah… that could be…" Sarah said, nodding.  
  
The two women reached the take-out and quickly entered, ordered and left again. They hurried back to the shop, since Sarah began to sweat under her veil. A few minutes later, they entered again and Sarah almost dropped the food to the floor and ripped her veil off.  
  
"Phew," Sarah sighed, "Am I glad to take that off."  
  
"Then why did you go in the first place, it's the middle of the day," Giles asked, concerned about her welfare.  
  
"I needed a break from books and some fresh air. I feel freshened up now, even though the veil is hot." Sarah smiled and put the food on the back table.  
  
She and Willow unpacked the food and the group went to eat, and talk. Buffy and Sarah began discussing some clothes they had seen in a magazine while Willow and Tara shared not only food, but also smoochies. Giles and Anya, meanwhile, talked about the Magic Box concerning, among other things, supplies.  
  
It was an hour later when they had finished and threw away the boxes and leftovers. Afterwards they quickly returned to their books. About two hours later, just when the clock hit three-thirty, Anya looked up.  
  
"How 'bout this?" she asked and pointed in the book. Giles pulled the book to him and read where Anya's finger had been. The more he read, the more he nodded. Finally he looked up and smiled.  
  
"This could be something, listen… 'When a person with magickal gifts is turned into a vampyre, the gifts will be lost.'"  
  
"So?" Sarah said, "how does that apply to me? Mine didn't get lost, they got stronger…"  
  
"There's a handwritten addition to it, it's hard to decipher, hold on… 'But when… the vampyre re…gains its soul, their powers will… return and… may…' no… 'might… even strengthen.'" Giles looked up and smiled.  
  
"See," Willow said, "it's the soul all right. … We discussed it a bit on the way to the take-out," she added on Giles' look.   
  
"It also means," Giles added, returning to father-mode, "that you will have to keep working with it."  
  
"Off course," Sarah said and raised her eyebrows; then she smiled, "this is way cool, it might increase even more then." Giles nodded.  
  
"That is a possibility, yes."  
  
The next days Sarah trained hard on her gifts and indeed, they increased. After two weeks intensive training she could lift the heavy side table at home without trouble. After a month, she could juggle with it in the air. But after a month or two, there was a standstill. She could now juggle the side table and some chairs together, but her powers no longer increased in force. Her mental stamina though, did increase and she could now hold objects in the air for a long time.   
  
"What do you say?" Sarah asked her father after three months as she sat on the stairs and was holding the side table, which had been her practice object for months, in the air. "I've been keeping it in the air for three hours straight. I'll have to let it down pretty soon now but…"  
  
"I'm impressed," Giles said, "but I think you've reached the end. At least for now."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You can't lift objects bigger and heavier than that side table, but you can lift it longer now, you're power… I think it's at its maximum and the only thing that can increase now is the stamina of your mind." Sarah thought about it as she gently lowered the table to the ground.  
  
"I think you're right," she said, "'cause I can't lift the closet, but I can keep the table of the floor for hours. And… it makes me feel more useful, now I can be more of assistance than earlier. Because only being able to go out at night severely limits my helping abilities. I can go out patrolling with Buffy, but usually she can handle the fighting herself and doesn't really need my strength to help, but with this added, I might be able to do more. And not to mention the advantage I now have over other vamps."  
  
"Exactly," Giles said, "but it's late and I'm going to go to bed, have fun tonight."  
  
"Thanks," Sarah said as she grabbed her coat and went out to meet up with Buffy and help her rid the world of vamps. 


End file.
